Pink and blue dress (fashion illustrations on book pages) / Ružičasta i plava haljina (modne ilustracije na stranicama knjiga)

What do you do when you feel like drawing but you run out of paper?....draw on what you have at hand. Illustrating on book pages is certainly not a new concept, but I think this illustration was my first conscious work of this sort. I did draw on books before, but it was more doodles than anything else. Moreover, I usually did it absentmindedly. This time I just thought to myself- why not? So, I made this fashion illustration with markers. This lovely lady is wearing a strapless heart shaped pink gown. I wouldn't mind having something like this in my closet. Actually I just remember that I bought a similar dress once. Unfortunately, the quality was so bad that I never wore it out of the house. As soon as I brought it home, I saw that purchasing it was a mistake. The sticking was terrible and the dress was practically transparent. That is the last time I'm trying something on in a shop that doesn't have proper lighting and mirrors. A lesson was learned there. Never shop in a hurry, ladies and gentlemen. Always make sure you're buying something you can actually wear. Anyway, a pink dress is always a lovely idea. As long as the quality of the dress is decent! Pretty in pink, as they say. Do you like pink? I sure do. Pink comes in so many lovely shades. For a while, pastel pink was my favourite shade. Right now I'm craving a clothing item that would come in a more intense pink. Something like this dress I illustrated. Often I draw things that I would like to have. Makes sense doesn't it? We draw what we like. 

Što napraviti kada vam se crta, a ostanete bez papira za crtanje?...Crtajte na onome što vam je pri ruci. Ilustriranje na stranicama knjiga nije ništa novo, ali mislim da je ova ilustracija moj prvi svjesni rad ove vrste. Jesam i prije crtala na knjigama, ali to su bile više nekakve črčarije  nego nešto drugo. Uz to, obično nisam bila ni svjesna toga što radim. Ovo puta ja sam si rekla, zašto ne? Tako sam napravila ovu modnu ilustraciju s markerima. Ova lijepa dama nosi haljinu srcolikoga izreza. Ne bi imala ništa protiv toga da mi se neka ovakva haljina nađe u ormaru. Zapravo sjetila sam da sam jednom kupila sličnu haljinu. Nažalost kvaliteta je bila tako loša da je na kraju nikad nisam nosila izvan kuće. Čim sam je donijela kući, vidjela sam da je nisam trebala kupiti. Šav je bio loš, a haljina je bila pa prozirna. To je zadnji put da kupujem nešto u dućanu koji nema dobru rasvjetu i ogledala.  Naučena lekcija. Nemojte nikada kupovati u žurbi, dame i gospodo. Uvijek budite sigurni da ćete doista nositi ono što kupite. U svakom slučaju, roza haljina je uvijek dobra idea. Barem ako je kvaliteta haljine pristojna! Lijepa u ružičastom, kao što kažu. Volite li rozu? Ja je volim, a dolazi u toliko divnih nijansi. Neko vrijeme mi je pastelno roza bila najdraža nijansa. Sada bi voljela neki odjevni komad u jarko ružičastoj. Nešto kao haljina koju sam nacrtala. Često crtam stvari koje bi voljela imati. To ima smisla, zar ne? Crtamo ono što volimo. 

                                                    A  PINK DRESS / RUŽIČASTA HALJINA

One of my new year decision was to draw less. Needless to say, this arrangement isn't quite working out! The main reason why I wanted to take a rest from drawing is that I started to have a lot of back problems. Now, I'm trying to work out a new work out regime (accidental word play) that would help me with this problem. I do have a special work out regime that one great therapist devolved for me years ago, but with the amount of sitting I do, it is just not enough to undo the damage I guess. That's modern life. We all spend so much time behind our desks. I enjoy walking, but sometimes walking isn't enough. The reality is that, biologically speaking, human body is made for movement. Our spine won't thank us for spending hours sitting down- no matter how much we might enjoy the end result of our work that can be done only sitting down. So, I'm trying to figure out something. I might have to stop painting and drawing. I hope that I will be able to work something out. One of alternatives I'm considering is blogging less often, that could save me a few hours daily. Perhaps both will be needed. It's been more than four years since I started blogging, perhaps time has come to slow down a bit and blog less often. I might develop a new more relaxed blogging schedule in the future. 

Jedna od mojih novogodišnjih odluka bila je crtati manje. Možda nije potrebno to napominjati, ali nekako mi to ne odgovara. Glavni razlog zašto sam se htjela malo odmoriti od crtanja je da sam počela imati probleme s leđima. Sada pokušavam razviti neki program vježbanja koji će mi pomoći s ovim problem. Imam jedan poseban program vježbanja koji je prije puno godina odličan fizioterapeut prilagodio za mene kada sam išla kod njega zbog problema sa skoliozom, ali valjda stvarno toliko sjedim da ni vježbanje više ne pomaže. Možda treba više vježbi za poništiti štetu nastalu sjedenjem. To je moderni život. Svi mi provodimo previše vremena iza radnih stolova. Volim šetanje, ali ono samo po sebi ponekad nije dovoljno. Realnost je da je biološki gledano ljudsko tijelo napravljeno za kretanje. Naša kralježnice nam neće zahvaliti za sve te sate koje provodimo sjedeći, bez obzira na to koliko uživali u tom nekom radu koji se može napraviti samo sjedeći. Tako da pokušavam nešto smisliti. Možda ću morati i prestati slikati i crtati. Nadam se da ću nešto smisliti. Jedna od alternativa o kojoj sam razmišljanja je i manje objavljivanja, to mi bi moglo uštedjeti dosta vremena. Možda ću trebati oboje iskombinirati. Prošle su više od četiri godine otkada sam otvorila ovaj blog, možda je vrijeme da malo usporim. Možda u budoćnosti razvijem novi manje učestali raspored objava.

If I were to turn this dress into a reality, I would probably add a nice belt. Perhaps I would sewn in sequins that would look like a belt. Something like these plastic sequins you can see below. I made a few necklaces with these kind of sequins. I think I only have one left. I'm not sure where are all the others. I did donate a few of them. Usually I donate my stuff around Christmas time to some association that is doing fund raising, so that it can be sold for charity. I must have given the other necklaces away as well. Perhaps I will make a few more in a future. If I manage to find time. Anyhow, that would be my pink dress illustration. I'm not very keen on markers, but I like how this illustration turned out. These are ordinary ones, I have never tried copic markers. Those things cost an arm and a leg. Every time I post something on Instagram, there is someone advising me to try out copic markers. No, thanks. I'm already spending more than I can afford on my art hobby. 

Ako bih pretvorila ovu haljinu u stvarnost, vjerovatno bi dodala i lijep remen. Možda bi ušila ukrase koji bi izgledali kao pojas. Nešto kao ovi plastični kristalići koje možete vidjeti ispod. Napravila sam par ogrlica s ovakvim kristalićima. Mislim da mi je samo jedna ostala. Nisam sigurna gdje su ostale. Nekoliko sam ih donirala. Obično oko Božića doniram svoje kreacije nekoj od udruga koja u to vrijeme skuplja novac, tako se mogu prodati u dobrotvorne svrhe. Druge sam ogrlica valjda  isto poklonila. Možda ih napravim još nekoliko u budućnosti. Ako pronađem vremena. Uglavnom, to bi bila moja ilustracija ružičaste haljine. Nisam ljubitelj markera, ali sviđa mi se kako je ova ilustracija ispala. Ovo su obični markeri, nisam nikada probala takozvane copic markere jer su za moj pojam preskupi. Svaki put kada objavim neku sliku na Instagramu nađe se neki pametnjaković koji mi kaže da ih moram obavezno probati. Ne hvala, ionako previše trošim na svoj hobi slikanja.

                                                 A BLUE DRESS/ PLAVA HALJINA



So, that would be all about the pink dress, now let's talk about my painting of a blue dress. Yes, today I will present another fashion illustration to you. The medium for this second one is watercolours on book paper. I was worried that the paper will break because you know book paper isn't suitable for watercolour but I managed to make it work by being very careful not to use too much water. I love books, so it is important to me not to damage them. Even those books I don't care for.  I actually hate this novel whose pages I used for painting (my review on goodreads here, I plan to write more about it on my other blog someday), so I'm happy that I managed to turn this terrible book into something useful. I will most surely not read it again, but now I can flip through its pages and enjoy the images. As far as the first illustration is concerned, I didn't cover anything important with it, just references from one of my SLA ( Second language acquisition)  teaching books.

To bi bilo sve o ružičastoj haljini, sada pričajmo o plavoj haljini ili bolje rečeno mojoj slici plave haljine. Da, danas vam predstavljam još jednu modnu ilustraciju. Medij za ovu su vodene boje na papiru od knjige. Malo sam se brinula da će papir puknuti jer kao što možete zamisliti taj papir nije prikladan za akvarel, ali uspjela sam to izvesti tako da sam jako pazila da ne koristim puno vode. Volim knjige, zato mi je važno da ih ne uništim, čak i one knjige koje mi ništa ne znače. Zapravo ne podnosim ovaj roman čije sam stranice iskoristila za slikanje (napisala sam ogled na goodreads-u, a bit će nekad i na mom drugom blogu), tako da mi je drago da sam uspjela pretvoriti ovaj grozni triler u nešto korisno. Sigurna sam da ga neću ponovo čitati , ali sada ga mogu preslitati  i uživati u slikama. Što se tiče prve ilustracije, nju sam nacrtala za poleđini stručne knjige, preko popisa literature, tako da opet nisam ništa bitno prekrila. 

 I just love the end result. The hair and the face look exactly how I wanted them to look. I must admit that I didn't pay as much attention to the rest, but I think it turned out pretty nice anyway. It is not a proper fashion illustration, but it has an artistic vibe that I really like. Most of my illustrations are not made to present them to potential clients (because I'm obviously not a designer). Instead, they're made because I love drawing and painting clothes. This blue gown is another item I would love to have in my closet. I love to drew this type of classical long dresses. Those kind of dresses look good on everyone. Anyway, I've taken a liking to drawing on book pages, you can expect more illustrations in this style. If I manage to solve my backache.  

Jako mi se sviđa kako je ova slika ispala. Kosa i lice izgledaju točno onako kako sam željela. Moram priznati da nisam obraćala toliko pažnje na ostatak, ali mislim da je ispalo poprilično dobro svejedno. Nije to "profesionalna" modna ilustracija, ali ima taj umjetnički pečat koji mi se sviđa. Većina mojih ilustracija nije napravljena da bi ih predstavila potencijalnim klijentima (jer očito nisam dizajner) nego ih pravim iz nekakve ljubave prema crtanju odjeću. Ova plava haljina je još jedan odjevni komad koji bi voljela imati u ormaru. Volim ovaj klasični tip dugih haljina. Takve haljine dobro pristaju svima. Uglavnom, svidjelo mi se crtanje po stranicama knjiga. Možete očekivati još takvih radova, ako uspijem riješiti bol u leđima. 

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